The disabling or loss of part of a hand frequently makes it very difficult for the handicapped person to use ordinary household utensils such as knives, forks, and spoons, or other simple tools. This disability is not at all uncommon, and may be caused by something as ordinary as arthritis, or something more unusual such as cerebral palsy or the loss of one or more fingers.
Devices have been contemplated to overcome or to at least mitigate the aforementioned problems. For instance, a hollow rubber tube can be fitted over the existing handle of a utensil in order to make the handle larger in diameter and therefore easier to grasp for those unable to close their hands tightly. However, beyond this simple expediency, the majority of devices have been custom-tailored for the generic disability or for the individual person. While such prosthetic devices may work very well, they have the disadvantage of being very expensive and not suitable for a user whose disability is changing, e.g. a victim of arthritis that is becoming progressively more severe. Self help aids are known for the handicapped including utensil holders which clamp over the entire hand, but these devices suffer similar deficiencies.
Insofar as is known, the patent literature is devoid of showing any devices of this type for assisting the handicapped in utilization of utensils and simple tools, except for the Landsberger U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,777 which shows an enlarged handle for an eating utensil, and is therefore the same type of limited solution mentioned above. The training utensil disclosed in the Huck U.S. Pat. No. 3,224,093 is basically a spoon for use in the training of infants, although it is also said to be suitable for use by arthritic patients; as this device depends upon support by the first phalanx of the thumb and resting on the middle finger, it would not for instance be suitable for use by one missing either or both of those appendages.